NBA

New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Ronnie Brewer poured in 23 points, and Deron Williams 21 with 11 assists as the Utah Jazz made short work of the New Orleans Hornets, 108-94, at New Orleans Arena.

Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko scored 18 and 16, respectively, for the Jazz, who snapped a three-game skid and secured a spot in the playoffs. Carlos Boozer finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

Utah is in seventh place, one game ahead of Dallas in eighth and one-half game behind these Hornets, who sit as the sixth seed. New Orleans trails Portland by one game for the fifth spot. The Hornets have six games remaining and the Jazz have five.

David West donated 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who lost their second consecutive game. Rasual Butler added 21 and Chris Paul 19 with 12 helpers in the setback.

The Jazz roughed up the Hornets to the tune of 41-19 after the first quarter and 66-39 at the break.

"I thought it was definitely the best half of basketball we've played all season, the way we came out," said Williams. "To be up by nearly 30 points at half was huge."

West's jumper and Peja Stojakovic's three-pointer brought the Hornets within 81-67 with 3:00 left in the third.

Moments later, a quick 7-2 run closed it to 85-76 as Sean Marks threw down a slam dunk. Brevin Knight, though, closed the third with a pair from the charity stripe to make it 87-76 in Utah's favor headed to the fourth.

Brewer's jumper closed out a 5-0 run the Jazz used to open the fourth period. The surge gave the visitors a 92-76 lead with just under 10 minutes left to play.

The Jazz held on from there.

"That's a tough team," said Paul. "They always give us issues. I just think that's a team that we need to figure out a way to beat them. We don't match up well with them, obviously, but we still have to figure out a way to beat them."